Launching the Departmental Chinese Windows 95

Ricky Chan

Departmental English Windows 95 has been implemented in our University for a long time. Now, we are glad to announce that departmental Chinese Windows 95 is also available to users. The delay for launching Chinese Windows 95 is mainly due to the fact that Microsoft does not support two or more language versions of Windows 95 on the same computer. Although we had spent a lot of time tackling this problem, we still cannot find a safe way to support it. For more information on the latter, please refer to this issue’s article titled "Complications of Supporting Chinese OS" on page ##. As a result, we support only one language version of Windows 95 on each computer, i.e. a user can only choose to install either English or Chinese Windows 95 on his/her computer.

During the period between July and September, pilot runs of Chinese Windows 95 were performed in the CSC as well as in two other departments. Based on the comments and suggestions collected, the implementation details of departmental Chinese Windows 95 was finalized and ready for deployment in October 1997.

The installation of Chinese Windows 95 is quite similar to that of the English version. People can simply choose "Setup Chinese Windows 95" on the Network & Environment Settings menu of the CTNET DOS menu, follow the instructions and answer a few questions. Chinese Windows 95 will automatically be installed to the hard disk from network. Useful information can be found in http://cctpwww.cityu.edu.hk/chinese/cwin95/cwin95.html.

Procedures for applying

• Departments are met in turn introducing the services supported under Chinese Windows 95 and scheduling the installation.
  
• The following default software and services are also included in the installation:
  • Chinese MS Office 97
  • Netscape
  • Eudora Pro
  • Pathworks Mail
  • Acrobat Reader
  • The CSC’s Clipart Library
  • Telnet using SimpTerm
  • FTP using WS_FTP
  • Virus Scan software
    
• Software other than the above will be installed upon request depending on the compatibility.

Limitations

• Chinese Windows 95 cannot co-exist with English Windows 95. Once set up, users will only be able to boot up to either DOS with Windows 3.11 or Chinese Windows 95.
• Only traditional Chinese (BIG5 internal code) is supported as default. Users may have to add software like RichWin and Twinbridge in order to have Simplified Chinese (GB code) and other internal code support.

Things to Consider before Installing Chinese Windows 95

• Memory required - 16Mbytes or above
• Local hard disk free space (drive c:)
  • 150 Mbytes for system
  • 250 Mbytes for system + Chinese Office97
• What Chinese Input methods do you need? Are they available?
• What applications do you need? Are they available?
• Has a local Chinese Windows 95 been installed already? If so, you may need to decide whether you would like to use the local or the network version of Chinese Windows 95.
• Have you installed any Hard disk compression utilities? If so, this may complicate the installation process.
• Do you have multi-configuration in boot files CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT? If so, we recommend removing it.
• What Chinese fonts do you need? Are they available?
• Do you have a hardware device that is either not popular or new on the market? If so, please check if they are compatible with Chinese Windows 95.

Computing Services Centre City University of Hong Kong ccnetcom@cityu.edu.hk